Chapter 25

Daylight

 

Dazed, June came out of the vision. June stared at the stone floor beside the dais, looking off into a ceaseless void. Possibility spun through her mind’s eye like a thread woven into a massive tapestry that stretched to the horizon.

What the hell, why me...

Kotor hopped into her vision, poking his head in like a gopher out of a hole.

With a little wave of his hand, he tried to catch June’s attention. “Are you OK?”

A beat passed between them, June still lost in thought. “Yeah, I’m OK. I’m just tired of all this cryptic stuff,” she admitted, chuckling away her nervousness.

He’s not going to tell anyone anything.

“There’s shinies in there,” Kotor squealed, pointing towards the giant chest that sat undisturbed on top of the stone platform. Behind it, the giant emerald continued to thrum with restrained power, but otherwise, the surrounding chamber was at peace.

June wasted no time, pushing aside thoughts of visions and prophecies swirling in her head. With a heave, June pushed the banded metal lid open, revealing a pile of loot. Coins of many metals glinted within, like a sea of gold and silver. But the real treasure sat daintily on top of the pile, a glittering green gem, much smaller than the giant emerald dominating the room, but still comparatively massive to anything June had ever seen before.

“Hmm, I wonder if I could use this,” she thought, considering how all the loot had dropped at the end of the dungeon, rather than spread throughout. This wasn’t how Duneria Online did things, was it a quirk unique to ‘living’ dungeons in this world?

Mixed within the pile was a smattering of different items, seemingly all the loot from the dungeon that she had just completed. Helpfully, a few status windows faded into her vision to tell her some important bits. A third window contained a more detailed rundown of the loot as well, But June didn’t want to sit here and read through it. She preferred to get her hands on it individually.

 

 

Mixed within the dizzying number of items were also various pieces of simple gear, which June didn’t even bother looking at right now. She just wanted to get out. Hastily, she shoveled the currency and other loot into her backpack, before hefting it back into place. The distended and bulky form of her backpack sat awkwardly on her frame.

As she shoved the last of the items into her pack, that same grinding sound of stone on stone filled her senses again. June glanced around, spotting what she assumed was a way out. A small doorway slid open across the room, revealing soft shafts of amber sunlight. Beyond that, a cramped stone staircase cut into the rock led back to the surface. After June and her cohorts trundled their way up the stairs, they arrived back at the forested site of the ruins, weather-beaten stones, mossy foundations and all.

June ascended the staircase to find Bullin waiting for her.

“Have fun, did we?” he asked in a sardonic tone, with a jagged smile breaking out on his cobalt features. His jovial smile dropped when only three of the four undead sent into the dungeon reached the surface.

“You really couldn’t keep them all alive,” the dwarf said, an edge to his tone.

“Stuff the attitude, old man. Nothing about that was fun.” June let a steely tone creep into her voice.

“S’not a big deal anyway, we can always replace the basic undead like them.”

So they’re just useless NPCs to you, nice to know how you really feel.

“So what now?” June asked.

“We’re going back to the Tombs, and we’re gonna see what kind of loot you got your paws on.” Bullin said with a glint in his eye.

After a short trek through the forests and the swamps, the group of undead arrived back at the mouth of the Tombs.

“You go on ahead back to my forge. I gotta deal with them,” Bullin said as he crooked a thumb at the pearl-eyed undead following behind them. With a shrug, June wandered off into the Tombs, meandering towards the forge and her personal chambers.

 

---

 

June entered the forge, dropping the hefty pack onto the floor with a clang. A few coins tumbled out and rolled across the floor, and with a start, Kotor leapt after them. “Shinies!” he cried. June couldn’t help but chuckle at his rambunctiousness.

Good a time as any to see what we got.

As June dug into her loot, Kotor watched eagerly, perched on her shoulder, like a pirate’s pet parrot. Digging through her pack, June plucked out each morsel of loot, adding it to a growing pile. Dominant in the pile was an eclectic mix of axes, swords, crude shields and other gear. Inspecting each weapon, a flash of blue in June’s eyes revealed the details of each piece of gear she had gained from slaughtering kobolds by the dozen. Each one was pretty useless, considering they were all of an item level below 20 and non-magical.

What a waste.

Tossing the mess of stone and crude iron gear aside, June set her sights on the more important stuff. A mountain of mana crystals glittered away at the bottom of the pile. Most of them were small Tier 1 varieties, looking like small cracked pearls. Among the pile was a larger Tier 2 Crystal that looked like a jagged piece of broken glass. As June held it in her hand, she could swear it was just slightly warm to the touch.

June flashed her Mana Vision to scan it, seeing a frothing glimmer of magical energy bubbling on its surface. The energy was pure white, rather than the colored gas-like form she was used to. And it was much less virulent compared to the tide of green mana flowing from the large green shard that dominated the table. Serpents of verdant power floated around the table, seeping into every space and item around the giant gemstone chunk. She sat aside the Tier 2 Mana Crystal to peer into the lush void of mana before her. As June watched, each tendril bored its way into the surface of the table, and everything on it. Each crystal exuded small bits of mana. But before it could spread, each flow was overwhelmed and pushed back to their source. The struggle reminded June distinctly of the image of her inner core. The torrents of elemental energy locked in eternal struggle came unbidden into her mind.

But that wasn’t all. That horrifying visage of the ashen face broke in as well. Its dry and cracked lips moved, speaking words she couldn’t hear. June forced the image out of her head, attempting to push into her core, incentivized by seeing what the Earth Mana was doing at a deeper level. June didn’t get the chance yet, as it was in this moment of reflection that Bullin walked in, letting a low whistle escape his lips.

“Quite the haul ya got there,” he said, his voice full of eager energy.

“Most of it’s junk,” she plainly stated as she gestured towards the pile of kobold items.

Bullin’s careful eyes wandered over the pile, picking up a few pieces, but an air of disinterest settled over his features as he did so. He shifted his gaze to the armor June was still wearing, eyeing it with much more obvious interest.

“Well, that’s new, isn’t it?” he asked.

June sat down the crystal to peel off the armor and let him get a closer look. “Yeah, made it myself while you were gone. I do need some help with the glamour though, didn’t know how to finish that part.”

His eyes flared cobalt blue for a few seconds as he carefully scanned the leather and its various components

“S’not bad, a bit weak in places, but pretty solid. Definitely better than what you had before.” Bullin paused to look up from the armor, then spoke to June directly. “This, plus that Trial, you’re doin’ very well. With all this good work these last few days, it seems you’ve got a good sense of your place already.”

“It’s been hard, what with all the cryptic nonsense that certain people love to feed me. But really, I just want to get out of here and explore.” June left off her other plans from her admittance to Bullin.

I don’t like hearing about my place.

“I could put a glamour on your armor if you want. Do you still have the old set?”

With a quick trip to her private room, June brought back the tattered, old armor. While June set to work putting her gear and other items away, Bullin worked on the gemstone setting for her new gear. Done with her sorting, June then settled onto the floor to inspect her core anew.

 

---

 

June fell back into the space of her core, ignoring the newly reborn void, and instead letting that pull sensation yank her into its fiery, glass-like surface.

The colorful area around her Nexus gave way to a shadow without end. A rush of wind pushed past her, June felt like she was falling. As the rocks of her internal magical core’s surface came rushing up to her senses, the surrounding void faded. A plume of dust marked a hard landing against the stones, June’s bones clacking and creaking as she scrambled to her feet.

That’s definitely new.

Deciding to focus on her goal in coming here instead of a new sensation, June peered over the edge into the maelstrom below. Her jaw dropped.

Gone were the equal battles of a variety of elemental forces. Fire roiled over the space, dominating it. Pillars of earth cracked under the heat, turning to slag and magma before being burned to ash. The heat burning up towards June was immense, like a giant wave of pressure bearing down on her. She almost had to turn away, for fear her bones might burst into flame as well. Steam and tendrils of burned plant matter exploded out of the fiery pit every now and again, but it seemed fire was dominating her inner magic. June walked slowly around the rocky outcropping, peering over the edge every few feet, looking for any clues to what had changed. When she glanced over the outer edge at the shadows below, another revelation greeted her sight.

The tendrils of light boring into the black stones weren’t pure, in fact, they looked rather sickly. Blackened veins of nightmarish energy pulsed across their surface, digging deep into the searing white light and blotting it out bit by bit. The contrast between light and dark was stark, but the light mana was definitely losing this relentless struggle. Huge chunks of what June assumed to be Life mana were ripped away by the advancing corruption, and cast into the void below. There was no resounding boom as they disappeared into the cloudy depths.

I wish I could get a closer look.

Wait, this is her core, she should have control over her magic here. June nearly slapped herself for not putting two and two together before. If she could control mana for the sake of converting it, what else could she do?

June mentally commanded a tendril of Death Mana to swim up the stones toward her, and as if she was a snake charmer, it obeyed. As it slithered towards her and wrapped its grip around her bones, an odd sensation took hold. Like an arm wrapping around her torso, June felt like she was being lifted. Panicking a bit, June tried to push a mental command to her mana. “Fly,” she thought. And to her surprise, her panicked choice worked.

June’s feet lifted off of the stones, and she slowly rose above the arena. A tendril of shadowy mana was still connecting her to it, but the effect appeared to be holding. Elated, June began zipping around the arena, inspecting things.

Though she couldn’t get too close to the inferno below without getting way too uncomfortable, June had time to inspect the duel between shadow and light on the outside of the structure. As she flew closer to the lighter mana tendrils, their shape came into clearer view. Instead of the individual strand of mana she had been expecting, she found it was actually a rope-like construct, made up of thousands of smaller strands of magic bound together. Each vein of dark energy crept its way up the appendage, replacing a strand of light mana. As June reached out to touch one of the darker strands, her hand passed right through, the bones of her hand disappearing amid the nearly blinding light. June extracted her hand, feeling no sort of resistance or other sensation from the threads of mana.

Even when she tried to pull mana from the threads with a mental command, it wouldn’t budge. The shimmering surface of the magical forces continued in its battle against the shadow, but as far as June was concerned, it was almost like she hadn’t interacted with it at all. Testing a theory, she tried to command the darker hues to her will. June tried to form the ethereal manifestation of death into a simple orb, and when it did as told, she tried to spin the ball. As if responding, the mana emitted a dull thrum of trapped light; the mana did as commanded.

Excited, June wanted to return to the top of the structure, and commanded her mana to carry her there. With haste, her magic pushed her along, like she was being tugged on a massive rope.

June settled back onto the shaded stones of her inner core, rushing to return to the outside world. A rushing sound and the feeling of being yanked met June’s senses, throwing her back into the forge chamber. As she came to, she noted Bullin staring at her.

Not wasting any time, she pounced with her question. “I have to ask. Is it possible for mana to shape the form of a Core or Nexus?”

“I’m assuming your core has been altered by your chosen mana?” June nodded her confirmation of his question, and he continued. “That’s a complicated process at work, but you will need to strive to balance your magical properties. Think of it like making a perfect sphere. You shave material off of one side to balance the overall shape.”

“So mana has to be shifted in careful measure to balance the elemental composition?” June thought through the process, likening it to color theory in her mind. Using too much of one color could taint the desired color, so balance was important.

“Yes and no,” Bullin said. “I always see it as tending a fire. You need to feed it fuel and air in the right measures to keep it burning. But if you want to build a bigger fire, you need more material to burn.”

The idea made sense to June. She’d seen her Nexus grow and change as she worked magic, so it was possible that the composition changed as she added more elements to it. Like a painting, the overall meaning could and would change, depending on the usage of color or certain thematic tones.

So if I want a balanced core with all kinds of magic, I need more than just Death and Fire mana. So that means I need sources of the other four primary types.

Her gaze immediately turned to the green gem still sitting on top of the table. June grew hungry at the sight of the glittering hunk of emerald and its torrent of powerful magic.

“You won’t be able to use that until you’ve worked with natural Earth Mana. Those corrupted cores need to be purified. It’s a whole mess.”

“I guess that makes sense,” June said, a bit of annoyance creeping into her tone. “And that reminds me, what was that giant emerald in the final chamber?” she asked.

“Dungeon Core, they’re like living magical beings.”

So AI, you mean? That’s going to be fun to mess with.

“Will we be going to another one of those when we leave?” she asked, sounding hopeful.

“Not likely, we’re gonna head south to Sunshear, and you’re going to stay there a while. And speaking of that, I need to get a few things together, take you and your imp over to the storage level, and wait for me.”

As June and Kotor prepped, June gathered her gear without question, too excited to ask for more details. She stopped to grab a few important books from her collection, as well as her various pieces of weaponry and armor. With a quick pace, her and Kotor made their way to the storage level. The pair of undead spent a few silent minutes wandering the storage level, gathering a few random bits and bobs. June followed Bullin around as he gathered a few items into a pack, including some very interesting blue gems. When she asked about them, all she got was “you’ll see” out of Bullin. With an even shorter trip through the teleporter, Bullin and June went off to a new destination.

 

---

 

In a brilliant purple flash, June, Kotor, and Bullin ended up in a dark and gloomy cave.

“Where are we?” June asked, as she nervously glanced around.

“We’re a lot further south. Saves us several days of travel, now we just have about a week’s run south.” Bullin called back as he was already several steps deeper into the cave. His hulking form nearly blocked out the entire tunnel ahead. “By the way,” Bullin remarked casually, “we need to keep undercover on this one. You can’t let anyone know where you're from or who you are.”

“Should I come up with a fake name?” June asked, mocking up an entire identity in her mind in that moment as she dashed up behind the large dwarf.

Between throaty chuckles, Bullin said, “No, just don’t let anyone know about the Tombs or me, and you’ll be fine.”

Well, that’s no fun.

Bullin moved with purpose, with June in tow. Stepping out into the daylight, it nearly overwhelmed June with excitement, as she nearly ran off into the green wilderness; until Bullin placed a hand on her shoulder.

“Hang on there, young’un. We’ve got some prep to do.” Bullin stated before pulling June back towards the rocks. His hand left her shoulder and then plunged into a nearby rock.

“What the...” June got out before the rock peeled back like a thick piece of paper under his meaty hand. The dwarf moved with a practiced ease as he unfurled the newly revealed cover from a simple wooden cart. both Kotor and June stared at the wondrous illusion, then their jaws dropped as Bullin pulled two of those glimmering blue stones from his pack and cracked them onto the ground. The stones flashed like cerulean embers on the ground, and in a bright lapse of momentary light, left two stunning horses behind.

Magic is awesome.

But Bullin wasn’t done with his little bag of tricks. June watched wordlessly as Bullin’s form also twisted before her eyes. His cobalt skin turned more alabaster, and his hair filled out. Taking his cue, she began to silently build her glamour back by feeding mana into her newly bejeweled armor. The form of the green-eyed redhead filled out over her bones.

After a few minutes spent loading their gear and chatting idly about magic, June was buzzing with excitement at finally getting out onto the road.

As the pair set out from the surroundings of the cave, the change in landscape was immediate and intriguing; June had a lot to take in, and evidently a lot to learn about the world. Gone were the cramped conditions of underground graves and caves, instead replaced by a series of rocky hills, leading out into a wide open green expanse.

The transition into a new and unseen ecosystem was welcome, much more than June would have otherwise thought. One could only stare at moss-covered rocks and waterlogged trunks for so long. And even though the farmland dominated the hilly valley, it was a much-needed visual reprieve.

A far cry from the heavily forested swamps around the Tombs, the Greenblade Plains, as Bullin remarked, were much more open and vast. June found a nice bit of comfort in the open spaces, but the lack of trees was a bit distressing to her sense of environmentalism and privacy. The sky above was grey and bleak, hinting of a rain to come. June wished a bright blue sky would have been overhead instead.

“Grand old forests used to dominate this region, but humans had their way with ‘em,” Bullin explained.

The trees that were there mostly comprised younger varieties of pine and spruce, with very few older trees dotted across the landscape, with canopies that offered rare shaded spots in the sun-baked grasslands. It was the breaks the pair took in these shaded spots that were most welcome, though, as the sun above baked June’s thoughts.

After a few hours, June and Bullin pulled into a copse of trees off the road. Bullin immediately set about putting up a camp.

“Why bother if we can’t sleep or eat?” she asked, watching him work.

“Because if any travelers come bumblin’ along, we don’t want them to get suspicious.”

June shrugged, and hopped down from the cart, and let Kotor out to stretch his legs.

“Thank you, boney, my back was getting cramped,” he sang as he hopped around in the grassy field.

June chuckled and set about helping Bullin set up their makeshift fake camp.

Bullin pulled the horses and cart towards a large tree and tied them up. The sandy brown animals looked entirely at peace against their girdles, and their coats shined in the setting sun.

After a few minutes of work, Bullin sent June to gather firewood from the few nearby trees. Supplied with an axe, she set off into the coming night. After a few minutes, June and Kotor returned, her pack laden with as much loose wood as she could find. The night wasn’t cold, rather warm in fact, but the fire seemed to be more for appearances than anything else. Bullin was seated against a rock beside the fire, his black eyes closed, seemingly in a deep sleep. But as June crept closer, not wanting to disturb him, an eye cracked open.

“Settle in, there’s plenty of earth mana round here,” he mumbled.

Kotor settled up directly within the fire itself, June lounged against the large tree beside the trio. She shifted her focus, staring into the fire and losing her awareness of the world around her. An air of tranquility settled over the party after a few minutes. Being out in the wilderness reminded June of many things, even bringing a pleasing feeling of isolation and contentment. Letting her thoughts wander, June recalled the senses they inundated her with from her explorations of magic. Her experiences created many illusions in her mind; dredging up all manner of emotions.

And as she fell deeper into her meditative state, the wind tickled the edge of her senses, rushing through the plains and sparse trees. The smell of pollen and other earthy scents wafted through the air as leaves and grass rustled with each gust of wind.

But something felt off, something came in under the wind, like a noxious odor. The smell of flowers and ferns was slowly losing ground to a more nefarious thing, like some looming beast. As the shady foe stalked through the recesses of her senses, hunting its prey, her unease built.

June couldn’t relax, not now, and she couldn’t quite figure out why. A door to a more peaceful world did exist, but she couldn’t run through it to escape the predatory sense looming around her. That door slammed shut in her mind for now. June let her inner sight wander, picturing the surrounding scene, but shadows stirred within her mind. Behind every tree, June was expecting some terrifying beast to leap out and attack the pair as they rested.

For every rush of soft wind through the trees above her, nothing else moved. Nothing was lingering in the tall grass or behind the errant rock, as least as far as June could sense. June chased off her unease with the contented notion of being one of only two beings out in the wilderness.

June rested in the tree's bole, trying to relax, letting time pass in silence. As the beams of sunlight broke through the canopy of leaves above, the sun sank lower in the sky.

And as day turned slowly to night, June settled in deeper, content with the idea that Bullin would take care of any problems. It was nice to finally not have some immediate task hanging over her head like a looming axe, waiting to come down and cleave her in two.

Trying to push the last vestiges of unease out of her mind, June set about meditating against the tree. Falling through the darkness of night and into the cradle of her Nexus, June began the process of threading new life into her magical center.

Bullin sat silently by an aggressively crackling fire, staring into the flames. The fire made his bleached-white skin look like polished pearl, even though June knew his blue skin would likely have a very different look.

As June’s mind’s eye picture the scene, trying to find mana to pull in, her hungry beast of a core sighted new prey. A lingering element of magic wafted around, coming from the trees and grass around them. Thin wisps of green energy carried a refreshing scent, luring her in like the promise of a sweet treat. June pulled at the tides of green gaseous magic around her, baiting it forward. Snake-like and creeping, the earth mana came flowing toward her.

“Yes, just like that,” she cooed internally.

June envisioned her growing core, taking herself back to the newly formed void, now filled with light and shadow in equal measure. For every beam of light casting colorful beams, like a waterfall of gemstones, the shadow stirred. Dancing shadows glinted amid the colorful light, as if locked in an eternal duel. The rainbow-like waltz of colors around her core made the magic barely contained their burn with an even more sinister light; standing in stark contrast to the light show, her Nexus was a chaotic and angry thing. The simmering surface of her Nexus cracked and slithered, plates of pure magic moving back and forth across its fiery surface. Like a primordial star, the magical core burned with glistening orange fire; holding together a layer of ash and cinders.

As June worked the thread of earth mana into a usable form. Drawing on her experience of layering mana within her core, she coaxed the mana into shape. The unbroken stream of magic formed into a long emerald thread, pulled deeper through the surface of the glowing, glassy orb of fire. As the flow of magic came into contact with the surface of the star-like entity, the tiny mouths opened, eating their fill of its nature energy. Each bit chomped off of the stream became a morsel to feed the ever-burning fire, a fire twisting the magic into shape. Like a swirl of green silk and burgundy satin, the coiling mass of earth mana unfurled itself around her Nexus. Where it touched the surface, the mask of magic burned, seething with new and angry power. Burned magic rose off its surface like steam, as if the orb itself was growing hotter, boiling the air.

Its relaxing warmth was unlike anything she had ever felt. The embrace reached through her core and out into her bones, filling her entire being with contentment and peace. June spent the rest of the night absorbing the mana, wrapped in its velvety embrace. As the clicks and calls of insects and birds filled the air, June lost herself in the sounds of nature. By the time the sun crept over the horizon, the undead Summoner felt more refreshed than she had in a long time.

 

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After several days of quiet journeying, the first signs of civilization came into view. June was resting in the cart as it trundled along, rocking around in the ruts in the dirt road, when her concentration broke, shattered by a loud roar that echoed across the landscape.